The upcoming Big Ears Festival happening March 27-29 in Knoxville, TN, has been expanded once again. Like in past years, the festival will include a film portion, and a selection of that has been curated by filmmaker/musician Jim Jarmusch and Michael Gira, whose respective bands SQURL and Swans were already on the lineup. Like they just did In NYC, Jarmusch's band SQURL will perform scores to Man Ray's silent films. Here's more:

SQÜRL, film director Jim Jarmusch's band with drummer Carter Logan, will perform music that they wrote for several silent films from the 1930s by the legendary surrealist Man Ray. This project was premiered in late February in New York as part of WNYC's Silent Films, Live Scores program. SQÜRL, joined by lute virtuoso Jozef Van Wissem, also performed the score for Jarmusch's most recent film, Only Lovers Left Alive.

The occult electronic duo Demdike Stare will perform their re-scoring of 1922 silent Swedish/Danish documentary / horror classic, HÄXAN, Witchcraft Through the Ages. Technically filmed as a documentary about how superstition and the misunderstanding of disease and mental illness could lead to witch hunts, its dramatized sequences push it into the realm of horror films. It was originally banned in the United States.

Rounding out the Big Ears film programs for 2015, indie director Jim Jarmusch and Swans founder and leader Michael Gira have collaborated with the Criterion Film Collection in curating a program of select films, which will be screened on Sunday at Regal Entertainment Group's downtown Riviera Cineplex. Jarmusch's program is "Three in Black and White," an international triptych featuring Satayajit Ray's The Music Room, Aki Kaurismäki's La Vie de Bohéme, and Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg. Gira has selected a single film: the cult classic Eraserhead, David Lynch's groundbreaking feature film debut.

There will be a Bill Morrison retrospective too, during which jazz guitarist Bill Frisell's quartet performing Frisell's live score to Morrison's The Great Flood (like he did at MoMA last year).

Jack White, who maybe you recognize from your baseball card collection, began his 2015 tour in Austin over the weekend with two sold-out shows at Austin Music Hall. We've got a full set of pictures (like the one above) of the first night over at BV Austin. Setlists from both nights below.

As discussed, that tour brings him to NYC this week for a show at Madison Square Garden on Friday (1/30)with Run the Jewels. That's now sold out. The Austin shows were with Chicano Batman, who are on most other US dates, and there's also a Nashville show with country legend Loretta Lynn and indie guitar great William Tyler. Jack also plays the South American Lollapaloozas and headlines both Saturdays of Coachella.

Hiss Golden Messenger recently signed to Merge, who will release his new album Lateness of Dancers on September 9, and he's just put out one of its tracks, "Saturday's Song." Unlike the somber folk of his recently reissued Bad Debt LP, this new song is a bright, full band folk rocker that falls somewhere between Electric Dylan and early Wilco. The record features members of Megafaun, Mountain Man, and guitar great William Tyler who especially shines on this one, offering Allman-style leads at the end. Check out the new song below.

HGM has also announced a tour which hits NYC on September 18 at Rough Trade for a show with Mountain Man's Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, who's on his record. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (6/27) at noon.

As you may know, Memphis garage rockers Reigning Sound are releasing their new LP, Shattered, on July 15 via Merge (their first for the label), and they've been touring in support of it. That tour hit NYC for a show at Brooklyn Bowl last week (5/22). It has since been expanded and will bring them back here for a larger show on August 28 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for the Bowery Ballroom show go on sale Friday (5/30) at noon with an AmEx presale starting today (5/28) at noon.

That NYC show is just before they play the Harvest Records 10th Anniversary festival in Asheville, NC (8/28-30) which also includes The Clean, Lee Fields, Mudhoney, Michael Hurley, Angel Olsen, Mount Eerie, The Sadies, Hiss Golden Messenger, DIsappears, Kevin Morby, Quilt, Pete Swanson, William Tyler, Sonny & the Sunsets, Axxa/Abraxas and many more. Full lineup below. 3-day passes are on sale now and single day passes go on sale in June.

All Reigning Sound dates are listed, with the Harvest lineup, below...

The five-day RadioLoveFest is coming to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in June, featuring various live radio shows with a variety of performers including Andrew Bird, Hamilton Leithauser of the Walkmen, They Might Be Giants, and Jonathan Coulton. On June 7th, Ira Glass will host an episode of This American Life live from BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, and though it is being billed as "one night only", it is now two shows in that one night. This is the updated description:

This American Life uses this evening at BAM as a chance to try something it's never attempted before: true stories staged as radio dramas. One of the stories will be an original mini-musical by Broadway composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of In the Heights and Bring It On. In another, The Monica Bill Barnes Dance Company will perform while Glass narrates. Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields) is writing and performing a mini-musical of his own, built around a real story from This American Life, and Mike Birbiglia will narrate another true story in his inimitable comedic form.

This American Life is a public radio show broadcast on more than 500 stations to 2.2 million listeners each week. Another million people listen each week by podcast. It's produced by WBEZ Chicago.

Stephin Merritt, who has a book of Scrabble-based poetry coming out in the fall, also has a show coming up in North Carolina as part of Merge Records' continuing 25th anniversary celebration. His Merge25 performance, not part of the actual Merge25 fest, is instead part of a special Merge parternship with the 'Duke Performances Concert Series', as part of Duke's 'Music in the Gardens' series on the Duke University campus. All shows in that series are listed below:

As mentioned a couple times, Merge Records is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, culminating in the Merge 25 festival in Carrboro, NC from July 23 - 26. They've just released the full line-up which now includes appearances from Teenage Fanclub, Mount Moriah, William Tyler, Reigning Sound, David Kilgour & the Heavy 8s, Imperial Teen, Telekinesis, Eleanor Friedberger, Hiss Golden Messenger, Amor de Días, Saint Rich, The Music Tapes, Vertical Scratchers, Hospitality, and Mikal Cronin.

That's in addition to previously-announced performersWye Oak, The Clientele, Destroyer, Caribou, Lambchop (performing Nixon), Neutral Milk Hotel, The Rock*A*Teens, Ex Hex, Bob Mould, The Mountain Goats, Superchunk, and The Love Language. Festival passes are sold out, but individual tickets to some of the shows are still available. Day-by-day lineups and ticket info below.

Let's hope this means Teenage Fanclub, David Kilgour, Caribou and some of the other out-of-country performers work in other dates while in the U.S. The Clientele are touring, as are the reunited The Rock*A*Teens.

Though the 2013 Sled Island Festival got flooded out, it returns to Calgary, AB this year from June 18 - 22. The full line-up will be announced on April 29, but artists appearing include St. Vincent, Spiritualized, Neko Case, Rocket from the Crypt (who play NYC tonight), Rhye, Touche Amore, Bob Mould, Mission of Burma, The Julie Ruin, Killer Mike, White Lung, and more. Festival passes are on sale now, with tickets to individual shows going on sale April 11.

Full initial line-up of Sled Island 2014 artists, and a teaser video, below...

Instrumental guitarist William Tyler (Lambchop, Silver Jews) is currently on the road supporting Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear, Department of Eagles) on his solo tour. That tour wraps up in NYC with a sold-out Music Hall of Williamsburg show on April 15, but you'll get another chance to see William in NYC when he headlines Union Pool (4/16) the next day. Tickets for that show are on sale now. Updated dates are listed below.

William is also planning to follow last year's Impossible Truth with a new EP, Lost Colony, on April 29 via Merge. You can get a taste of that from the 13-minute single "Whole New Dude" below.

Guitar great William Tyler, who has spent time in Lambchop and Silver Jews, took the solo route last year with an atmospheric guitar album on Merge, Impossible Truth, that deservedly ended up on a couple best of 2013lists. He's now announced that he'll be taking his six-string soundscapes on tour as a support on act on Daniel Rossen's (of Grizzly Bear and Department of Eagles) first-ever solo tour. As discussed, that tour hits NYC on April 15 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets for that show are still available. Updated dates are listed below.

Daniel also joins members of Beach House, Fleet Foxes, The Walkmen and others to perform Gene Clark's No Other on a tour this month which hits NYC on 1/25 and 1/26 at MHOW (both sold out). And Daniel's Department of Eagles bandmate Fred Nicolaus just played NYC on Saturday (1/11) with his Golden Suits project.

Pitchfork just posted their Honorable Mention Albums of 2013, which they say is "not #51 through #70 in our albums poll, but rather, records we thought were exceptional this year and deserved to be highlighted regardless of where they wound up." It includes a number of albums that did get Best New Music throughout the year (like the Burial EP that got a 9.0 last week), a certain inescapable young New Zealand pop star (who just announced two Roseland Ballroom shows), some metal representation, a couple indie legends, and the raw noise punk demo of Perfect Pussy, who also made Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks.

It's the first work week of December and the year-end music lists for 2013 keep piling in. We just saw album lists from Q and Mojo, and now we get a list from a US publication, SPIN. There's not too many surprises on this one. Like last year, it shares its #1 with the highest Pitchfork-rated album of the year, and in general it features many of the albums we expect to see on these kinds of lists, including a lot of the year's big-name comebacks like My Bloody Valentine, Justin Timberlake, Daft Punk, Queens of The Stone Age, Boards of Canada and Nine Inch Nails, plus big breakouts like Haim and Disclosure. There are a few interesting omissions though, like Savages.

The annual Taste of the Seaport is returning this Sunday (10/27) to the South Street Seaport (at Fulton and Front St) with sets from two experimental musicians: the electronic musician-gone-art rocker Arp and atmospheric guitar great William Tyler (who has played in Lambchop and Silver Jews). Opening the show is Jeff Tuohy. The day event runs from 11 AM to 4 PM and features food from local restaurants, with proceeds benefitting Spruce Street School/PS 397. It's totally FREE and open to the public (food and drink is not free, though).

In celebration of the EP, the group have an October residency at Brooklyn's Union Pool, playing every Sunday of the month. It's where the band made their live debut when they opened for Yeah Yeah Yeah's Hurricane Sandy relief benefit last December. They've also invited friends to open:

10/6: Little Shalimar and a quartet of Chris Corsano, Daniel Carter, Demian Richardson, and David Moss

Progressive pop cult The Polyphonic Spree have a bunch of festival dates scheduled for this spring/summer and they'll also be touring around those fests, playing a number of club dates throughout the US. Those dates include NYC shows happening on July 9 at Music Hall of WIlliamsburg and July 10 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for those shows go on sale Friday (5/3) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (5/1) at noon.

The Polyphonic Spree were also among the recent additions to this year's Bonnaroo lineup. Other additions include Solange, White Lung, Mac DeMarco, Black Prairie, Maps & Atlases, Royal Thunder, William Tyler, Cat Martino, On An On, Bilal and more. 4-Day passes for the festival are still available.

All Polyphonic Spree dates are listed, along with a full list of the Bonnaroo lineup additions and a video of the Polyphonic Spree covering Nirvana's "Lithium" at our BV-SXSW day party (one of our greatest moments at SXSW this year), below...

William Tyler, who has played guitar in Silver Jews and Lambchop, recently signed to Merge, and the label will release his new solo album, Impossible Truth, on March 19. The first single, "Cadillac Desert," is a shimmering cut of instrumental guitar with post-rock arpeggios meeting the twang of Americana slide. You can stream that song below. That's the album art above.

William will be supporting the new record with a tour that kicks off at Savannah Stopover, continues through Austin for SXSW and eventually hits NYC for an early show at Mercury Lounge on April 16. Tickets for that show go on sale today at noon.

SXSW is no doubt a great way to see a lot of bands in a short amount of time and can be a lot of fun. But it can also be a little much for some. If you'd like to see many of the same bands but in a more genteel setting, you might be interested in The Savannah Stopover which happens the weekend before SXSW (March 7 - 9) in at various clubs in Savannah, Georgia. Over 100 bands will play, including Of Montreal, Merchandise, Mac DeMarco, Chelsea Light Moving, Hunters, Braids, Delicate Steve, Turbo Fruits, Ducktails and loads more.

Tickets ($30 per day or $75 for three-day pass) are on sale now and more info is at Savannah Stopover's website. The full announced lineup is below.

Merge Records have added two new artists to their roster: Memphis, TN's long-running garage greats Reigning Sound (previously on In the Red), and Lambchop guitarist William Tyler whose 2011 instrumental solo album, Behold the Spirit, was well-received (stream it at Spotify). Neither act have specific release news but look for albums from both in 2013.

Meanwhile both Tyler and Reigning Sound will be part of Merge Records' official CMJ showcase which will be at Mercury Lounge on October 18 with Telekenesis, Eleanor Friedberger, Mount Moriah and Superchunk frontman/label domo Mac McCaughan also on the bill. It's the first CMJ showcase Merge has had since 2008. Tickets go on sale Friday, September 21 at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (9/19) at noon.

The only artist on the Merge CMJ showcase that has any other upcoming tour dates listed is Telekinesis, though none in NYC. Those are listed below.

Dent May's new album, Do Things, is out June 12 via Paw Tracks, and those expecting more of his magnificent ukulele may be in for a surprise. Having traded his signature instrument for synthesizers, drum machines and electric guitar, Do Things sounds like May has spent the time between albums listening to that Orange Juice box set and his baritone croon works well with his new, funkier sound. You can download the very OJ-ish single "Best Friend" at the top of this post and watch the video for it below.

Dent plays 285 Kent tonight (5/18), the last date of a short East Coast tour, and shares the bill with Family Portrait, The Babies, William Tyler and Ducktails on DJ duties. He then takes a month off before launching an extensive North American tour with Quintron and Miss Pussycat that will not hit the East Coast unfortunately. All Dent May tour dates are listed below.

Punks on Mars are signed to Zoo Music, the label run by Dee Dee of Dum Dum Girls and Brandon of Crocodiles. They just released their new 7" EP, Hey Tiffany, and it's got a compressed early-'80s new wave feel to it. Fans of Cleaner from Venus, Chris Stamey-era dB's or even Ariel Pink might want to take a listen -- you can stream the whole thing at the bottom of this post.

That stream, along with the Dent May video, and a list of all dates below...

Megafaun are heading out on an extensive international tour this year, starting with a European run in February and then coming to the US in March and April. The tour hits NYC on March 17 at Highline Ballroom with support from William Tyler, who also opens a few of the other US dates. Tickets go on sale Friday (1/13) at noon. All dates are listed below.

Megafaun's Phil Cook is one of the guests, along with Justin Vernon and Norah Jones on Kathleen Edwards' Vernon-produced full length, Voyageur, which comes out this Tuesday (1/17). You can stream the entire album on NPR.

Phil and his brother/bandmate Brad Cook were in a pre-Megafaun band together called Amateur Love. Their album, It's All Aquatic, is being reissued on Justin Vernon's new label, Chigliak Records, which is an imprint of Jagjaguwar. According to a post on the label's website, which has since been removed, Chigliak will release albums that were "never commercially released" or "locally released and never put on vinyl," in addition to new recordings. So far the label is set to release the Amateur Love album, and albums by Sarah Siskind and 12 Rods. Check out an Amateur Love video below.

The second annual Hopscotch Festival will go down in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, across 12 different venues with over 135 bands, from September 8th through 10th. The lineup this year runs the gamut of independent music... from traditional indie staples (The Flaming Lips, Guided By Voices, Superchunk) to southern-inflected rock (Drive-By Truckers) to noise (Prurient) to hip hop (Beans) to garage (Jeff The Brotherhood) to funk (Budos Band) to metal (Krallice), and everywhere in between (Swans, Rhys Chatham, etc etc). Tickets are currently on sale. Full lineup is below.